Formal Dutch Jazz Education and the Colonial Politics of Power

This paper explores how institutionalized discourses of knowledge as an exclusionary and exclusive Eurocentric privilege have impacted and shaped the development of jazz and improvised music in the Netherlands. Through an exploration of the institutionalization of jazz education in the Netherlands, it explores how the Western Eurocentric modernity has colonized knowledge systems and fields, imposing a classed, raced and gendered lens on the circuits of cultural production, while dismissing other practices as immoral, barbaric, and primitivist. As such, it critically engages with decolonial and critical race theory to interrogate how jazz education has been shaped by Eurocentric epistemologies. The paper draws on archival research (conservatory archives, National Jazz Archive, personal documentation) to investigate institutional policies, curricula, and selection and assessment criteria in Dutch jazz education. Additionally, interviews with musicians and educators provide insights into the lived experiences of those navigating these structures. By synthesizing historical documents, policy analysis, and personal narratives, this paper uncovers the ways in which institutionalized jazz education in the Netherlands has upheld exclusionary knowledge systems while marginalizing alternative cultural and artistic traditions. As such, it aims to shed light on the institutionalization of improvised music education in the Netherlands and its complex relationships to questions of race, diaspora, national identity and cultural politics.